Shadow-class Submarine
Generally considered (by their creator at least) to be the greatest achievement of this designer/shipyard, this class of Submarines represents the 3rd Generation of my Submarine Fleet. It consists of High-Speed, High-Performance subs that focus on the key weakness's of submarines: Their Speed, Maneuverability, and Stability. Shadow Hawk After months of heavy experimentation, and following a major breakthrough in my submarine speed tweaking, several prototypes were created, testing the stability, acceleration and handling of 194+ knot submarines. The Shadow Hawk is the resulting design and production model. The first ship in my navy to carry the "Shadow" class prefix, the submarine was a massive upgrade to previous designs; reaching a staggering 194.7 knot top speed, extremely quick acceleration, and tolerable-ish handling. She carried a primary armament of 8 torpedo tubes, augmented with a mine-layer (which finished ships off just as often as her torpedo's). Shadow Wolf While the Shadow Hawk possessed beyond adequate speed and acceleration, her handling left something to be desired. While acceptable in many situations, her tendency to dive severely in turns (a tendency shared by most fast subs), left her vulnerable to her own instability, and required extremely dexterous piloting to remain submerged and yet alive at the same time. Enter Shadow Wolf: Built as a response to the less than shining maneuverability of the Shadow Hawk, this newer sub utilized the same speed techniques, but attempted to correct the stability issues with a catamaran hull. The result was near perfection in stability. With a wide enough base, the submarine dived little if at all during turns. This submarine, like the Shadow Hawk possessed an armament of 8 torpedo tubes, but in contrast, lacked an appropriate position to mount a mine-layer. Because of it's catamaran shape, and the extra drag involved, the Shadow Wolf had a top speed of only 183.1 knots, which, while still quite high, gave the craft significantly slower acceleration than its predecessor, which hit 194+ quickly and with power to spare. Because of the smaller submarine it was modeled after, the Shadow Wolf possessed only small rudders for its' turning, resulting in a somewhat slow turning radius. Though still an extreme threat in multi-player matches, the slower speed and turning radius of the submarine resulted in more slowly paced matches than the ones I had become accustomed to in my times piloting the older, more lively Shadow Hawk. Shadow Wolf II An attempt to correct the flaws and weaknesses of the first Shadow Wolf, the Shadow Wolf II was a huge undertaking which involved several completely new applications of speed tweaks (which I believe to be completely unknown to anyone else), and slight hull variation to gain speed, as well the process of determining how to mount a large rudder to the small craft without the craft becoming less stable. The final result exceeded all expectations or hope. The submarine, in it's final form had a top speed and very slow descent rate of 194.5 knots, and at one notch down from top speed, a 194.4 knot very slow rising rate. It had incredible handling; on many occasions completely outmaneuvering small destroyers and fast boats, and in one case actually causing one to flip during a maneuvering battle. Thanks to it's catamaran hull, the Shadow Wolf II was capable of making full rudder, full speed turns without significantly changing depth at all. She had an armament of 10 torpedo tubes and a mine-layer. This was literally the submarine that could (and did at least once) kill designated sub killers. Her only, and somewhat minor flaw was her relatively low density compared to the other ships of this class (low to mid .9 as opposed to high .9), which resulted in failed dives a couple of times (especially in the first of her GC battles) and death by MK45 twice. All said and done, she had an impressive run in Multi-player battles; losing only 3 times of her approximately 40 battles, and even in those times she died because of user error (or overconfidence on my part... running straight into a swarm of underwater torpedos because I underrated my opponents ASW). This submarine was the Pride of My Entire Fleet until my sqlite became corrupted and I lost it forever. SQlite gone... All ships built before this are no longer in existence. Shadow Hawk II This was a failed project to recreate the original that made it out of the building stages but was deleted after the realization that it was, in fact, inferior to the old one in every way. Shadow Hawk III Built more as a stepping stone in the process of building the next Shadow Wolf, the Shadow Hawk III was built as a single hulled test case for size and speed-tweaking of the much more important sequel. While built as such, she is, in fact, a deadly opponent, though quite possibly as much a threat to herself as to anyone else. She suffers from the same maneuverability deficit the first Shadow Hawk had, and despite possessing a 194.8 knot top speed is incredibly difficult to successfully pilot. Her improvements over the original include: A top speed increase of .1 knots, the acceleration increase that follows, and an armament of 10 torpedo tubes now instead of 8. Shadow Wolf III After the loss of the Shadow Wolf II due to data corruption, the quest to equal or better it began. Because no pictures of the older submarine existed, the designers (me) had to work completely from memory, attempting to remember just how some of the speed tweaks worked. Finally after months, the Shadow Wolf III was born. Though built from virtually the same hull as it's predecessor, the new submarine is improved in every single way. The gap between the submarines two hulls was extended significantly, extending its stability rating to 1600.9, which is nearly double the original sub, and creating a smaller turning radius (now she can literally almost do donuts if necessary). The third Wolf also has an improved armament, which was extended from 10 torpedo's and one mine-layer, to 16 torpedo's and three mine-layers. Quite possibly the largest improvement, was the increase in density that now allows the Shadow Wolf III to dive underwater quickly and easily, without the hassle of quickly reversing and gunning the throttle that the Shadow Wolf II required. Though relatively green in GC Multi-player, the submarine is an incredible threat. It wins more than it loses, even in VIP with ships loaded with anti-submarine weapons. It can outmaneuver nearly all its competition, and it is fully capable of defeating any opponent. Even the blame for its few losses, falls entirely upon the operator and not the capabilities of the sub itself. Category:Vessel Classes by Admiral Josh Ninja Category:Submarines